Jai Rodriguez's Animal Instincts

Jai Rodriguez came to
fame as the culture vulture on the seminal makeover show
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

. He's an Emmy winner, a
New York Times

best-selling author, and a Broadway performer, including stints
in
Rent

and
The Producers

. He even squeezed in time for a little nipple reduction on
Nip/Tuck

.

These days he's living
in Los Angeles, working on music and hosting Animal
Planet's show
Groomer Has It,

a reality competition between dog groomers. Here the
Jai-of-all-trades tells Advocate.com what tip he'd give
President Obama for grooming his new dog, talks about
his new dance single, and reminisces on those
Queer Eye

days.

Advocate.com:What do you think will be the hardest challenge on this
season of
Groomer Has It

?Jai Rodriguez:

Probably having all the groomers living under one roof.
Grooming is kind of an individual sport. The catfights
in the house were awesome!

It kills me you have a Quick Sniff Challenge! How ripe is
that for a porn film?

I hadn't actually thought about that. Naughty man!

Are there any gay contestants this season?

I believe there are three or four. I'll let you guess who.

Do you think grooming dogs lends itself to a gay
sensibility?

Well, I hear it's mostly a woman's sport….

Which contestant has the boldest personality?

Boldest? Hmmm. I'd say Danielle.

What types of dogs do you have?

Yorkies. They rock!

Which of your two dogs, Nemo --
Groomer Has It

's messenger dog -- or Dory, do you most resemble?

Nemo, for sure. He's rowdy, wild, loud, but a total cuddle
monkey.

Do you think it's harder to groom dogs or teach straight
guys to groom themselves?

Well, I haven't had many straight guys lovingly lick me after a
groom. So I'll go with B… It's harder to groom a
straight guy.